Posts Tagged ‘parents’

325.7 million people in the USA in 2016. – 42,249 (Henry Kaiser Statistics )died in 2016 from overdoses of opioid = Leaving 325,657,751million people. (REMEMBER: statistics vary from website to website. I am using, as a base, those numbers most websites reported.

A pittance.. Meaning no disrespect! Of course not, individually…those lives are precious to those whose friends and family have been lost.

Because of media coverage results of current actions to reduce deaths should be noted:

“Someone” is recommending opioid training on “how to prescribe”; a course doctors must take. I do not know cost, time involved, or if it will be mandatory.

The Surgeon General is recommending that more pens of Naloxone be produced and sold so that some of those who overdose might be saved. The average cost at a discount, almost $100.00. Often two or three pens are needed. Someone will see a big profit! Pharmacies? Sale of pens to medical facilities. Cost to citizens.

FYI: highest death rates are age group 45-64. Most illicit users range from 18 to mid-twenties.

Over a period of weeks I have found that the age group most affected are the elderly. Affected in the way that their ability to be prescribed the medication for the drugs REALLY needed, has been curtailed…A choice of pain medication / or sleeping aid such as Ambien.

Doctors are encouraged to promote exercise and behavioral treatments to help patients cope with pain. REALLY? One would have to have experienced a vast majority of “pain” throughout the body to really know if a behavior treatment would help. Of course, mind over matter does help, but are most people really mentally ready to manage chronic pain using that methodology?

Is there really a healthful choice for those will permanent pain from injuries? Sleep or pain relief?

Common Opioids bind to receptors in brain and spinal cord. They disrupt pain signals and activate reward areas of brain by releasing dopamine – which creates a feeling of euphoria (a high). Opioids such as morphine and codeine are derived from poppy plants. Heroine is an illegal drug synthesized from morphine. Most opioids are grown in Asia, Central and South America.

Hydrocodone and oxycodone are manufactured in labs with natural and synthetic ingredients.
Between 2007 and 2016 the most widely prescribed drug (hydrocodone ), was prescribed and 6.2 BILLION pills were distributed. In 2016, 5 BiLLION oxycodone tablets were prescribed. These were all in the USA….. 99.7 of the worlds hydrocodone was prescribed in the USA.

NY Times

“Most of the time, it’s sold on the street as heroin, or drug traffickers use it to make cheap counterfeit prescription opioids. Fentanyls are showing up in cocaine as well, contributing to an increase in cocaine-related overdoses. Fentanyl was originally developed as an anesthetic for surgery. Carfentanil – a unit is 100 times stronger than fentanyl, and 10,000 as a unit of morphine. The most deadly of the fentanyl analogues Carfentanil, an elephant tranquilizer, 5,000 times stronger than heroin. An amount smaller than a few grains of salt can be a lethal dose.” It already has commercial availability…

For anyone who would like to read a few names of what citizens have been given for various ailments and injuries, I copied a fairly comprehensive list and will post it soon.

The point of this post, I am not sure. I just found it extremely interesting that as citizens we were given the okay for many of these to curb pain. The government is concerned about “citizens” when I believe the citizens who are using these drugs “to death” are illegal in their usage-either bought on the street, shared with relatives, or stolen!

Granted, I have seen and met some fakers here in California, and there are many throughout the states, but the majority of people I’ve seen who use these drugs are in dire need of some help to manage his or her life.

It s just sickening to have those really in need managed so poorly – Many doctors are now pulling back on writing these prescriptions so they won’t “get in trouble.”

We can also blame “money people” on the fact cigarettes and alcohol are still legal.
Haven’t even mentioned the huge problem with Adderall addiction, or the ridiculous use of Ritalin in children. – For God’s sake, let them be children….

What is the answer? I don’t know. It’s certainly NOT taking pain meds or sleeping aids away from those who ACTUALLY manage lives with the help- the elderly, critical pain patients, and those will lifelong major pain afflictions; many of which are our combat soldiers – men and women!

Just read in the news about a virus hitting the midwest. CDC is concerned it may spread to all states. Just BE AWARE of the symptoms and keep an eye on the children. It may be alarming, but knowledge is power, so don’t be alarmed – just stay focused on your kids. I send love and blessings to you all.
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(CNN) — A respiratory virus is sending hundreds of children to hospitals in Missouri and possibly throughout the Midwest and beyond, officials say.
The unusually high number of hospitalizations reported now could be “just the tip of the iceberg in terms of severe cases,” said Mark Pallansch, a virologist and director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Viral Diseases.
“We’re in the middle of looking into this,” he told CNN on Sunday. “We don’t have all the answers yet.”
Ten states have contacted the CDC for assistance in investigating clusters of enterovirus: Colorado, North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Kentucky.
What is Enterovirus EV-D68?
Enteroviruses, which bring on symptoms like a very intense cold, aren’t unusual. They’re actually common. When you have a bad summer cold, often what you have is an enterovirus, he said. The season often hits its peak in September.
Respiratory illness hits children ‘Unprecedented’ virus striking kids
Top 8 germiest places in school
The unusual situation now is that there have been so many hospitalizations.
The virus has sent more than 30 children a day to a Kansas City, Missouri, hospital, where about 15% of the youngsters were placed in intensive care, officials said.
In a sign of a possible regional outbreak, Colorado, Illinois and Ohio are reporting cases with similar symptoms and are awaiting testing results, according to officials and CNN affiliates in those states.
In Kansas City, about 475 children were recently treated at Children’s Mercy Hospital, and at least 60 of them received intensive hospitalization, spokesman Jake Jacobson said.
“It’s worse in terms of scope of critically ill children who require intensive care. I would call it unprecedented. I’ve practiced for 30 years in pediatrics, and I’ve never seen anything quite like this,” said Dr. Mary Anne Jackson, the hospital’s division director for infectious diseases.
“We’ve had to mobilize other providers, doctors, nurses. It’s big,” she said.
The Kansas City hospital treats 90% of that area’s ill children. Staff members noticed an initial spike on August 15, Jackson said.
“It could have taken off right after school started. Our students start back around August 17, and I think it blew up at that point,” Jackson said. “Our peak appears to be between the 21st and the 30th of August. We’ve seen some leveling of cases at this point.”